Marlena Shaw – issued in August 1967 on Cadet 5571, as the B-side of “Brother Where Are You” (Oscar Brown, Jr.)

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Burt Bacharach and Trijntje Oosterhuis – 11 July 2009 at the North Sea Jazz Festival

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Little Betty Falling Star (m. Burt Bacharach, w. Bob Hilliard)

The Cascades – 1964 (RCA-Victor 47-8321) — Gene Pitney introduced the song on the 1962 Musicor LP Only Love Can Break A Heart (also released on The Many Sides Of Gene Pitney, 1962), but I prefer this 1964 version by the Cascades.

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Mexican Divorce (m. Burt Bacharach, w. Bob Hilliard) — first recorded in 1961 by The Drifters

The Drifters — issued in February 1962 in the US on Atlantic 45-2134, as the B-side of “When My Little Girl is Smiling” (Goffin & King); issued in the UK in March 1962, with the sides reversed, on London (UK) HLK 9522

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Jay and the Americans — unreleased, 1962

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Busting Prince Buster
Songwriting credit is incorrectly given solely to “C. Campbell” on the label of this 1967 disc credited to reggae band “Teddy King & Busters All Stars” (the latter is more accurately Prince Buster’s All Stars). C. Campbell is Cecil Bustamante Campbell, better known as Prince Buster. Discogs lists also the following aliases: Jamaica Greatest, Judge Dread “used in the late 1960[s] when recording anti-rudeboy songs,” and Muhammed Yusef Ali.

Trying to steal a song from Burt Bacharach, eh Prince? I call it Madness.

I Cry Alone (Burt Bacharach & Hal David) — I don’t know who recorded the song first, possibly Dionne Warwick. She cut a version for her debut LP Presenting Dionne Warwick (LP Scepter 508, released February 1963.

Paul Anka — issued on 15 January 1965, under the title “To Wait for Love (Is to Waste Your Life Away),” on the single RCA Victor ‎RCA 1434, b/w “Behind My Smile” (Andrews, Black)

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Tom Jones — issued on 22 January 1965 on the single (UK) Decca F 12062, as the B-side of “It’s Not Unusual,” which became a #1 hit in the UK and reached #10 in the US

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Jackie DeShannon — from her 1966 album Are You Ready for This?

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Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass — from the 1969 LP Warm

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Who’s Got The Action (Burt Bacharach, Bob Hilliard)

Phil Colbert — issued in August 1965 on Philips 40313, b/w “The Long Long Tunnel” (Freddie Scott, Helen Miller); both sides arranged by Horace Ott and produced by Hal Mooney

The copyright registration number and date as given at copyrightencyclopedia.com is EP0000209430 / 1965-11-05, though the song was probably written in 1962. As Serene Dominic suggests in his book Burt Bacharach: Song by Song, “Who’s Got the Action” may have been submitted for consideration, or written under contract, and rejected for a Dean Martin film of the same name released in 1962. Martin recorded a different song, a bit of fluff, with the same title for the film. However, there is at least one known instance of Bacharach co-writing a song using a film’s title and story after viewing the completed film. He and Hal David did so with “The Hangman” in 1959. As far as I know, Bacharach didn’t write with Hilliard after 1962. This is the only recording of the song that I’m aware of. — comments by doc

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Who’s Got the Action (m. Burt Bacharach, w. Bob Hilliard)

Searching and longingFor something specialSomething to go with the mood I’m inLose or winWhere are the thrills that I’m dreaming about constantly

Tell me who’s got the actionWho’s got the action for me

Watching and waitingFor some excitementSomething to go with the things I feelSomething realI want the wind to blow all of the leaves off my tree

Tell me who’s got the actionWho’s got the action for me

I’ll take chances I’ll put my life on the lineAnything to fill these empty arms of mineThat’s why I’m…

Restless, and reachingFor something extraSomething to go with the mood I’m inLose or winLove of my life, tell me where is the world end to be

On 24 February 2012, I looked for the lyric to “Who’s Got the Action” without success. The title is missing from a couple of major Bacharach lyric collections (See the links at the bottom of my Burt Bacharach Index). Several general Google searches using significant lines or phrases turned up only a couple of lines in the online Santa Cruz (CA) Public Libraries sheet music catalog. So I transcribed the words that day. Colbert enunciates very clearly.